Positive Tension
by newportz-princess
Summary: They were from opposite sides of the social spectrum, but after a one night stand, Ryan and Marissa find themselves not only falling in lust and a lot of trouble, but possibly even love. AU. RM.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: The O.C. belongs to Josh Schwartz.**

**Summary: They were from opposite sides of the social spectrum, but after a one night stand, Ryan and Marissa find themselves not only falling in lust and a lot of trouble, but possibly even love. AU. RM.**

**I'd love a review like you wouldn't believe! And I hope you like this new fic.**

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It was wrong to take advantage of her - he knew that. But something about the way she screamed at Luke, the way her sundress seemed to fit so perfectly on her frame; teasing him senseless, the way she looked at him with lost and tearful eyes as if he was supposed to make it all better.

Sure enough, they went to the same school; they both came from rich familles that were high in Newport Beach's society, so it was a given that they'd be sent off to The Harbor High School – aka, the most elite private school in the area, but then again, they'd never exchanged anything except maybe an accidental glance in each others' direction. They weren't friends. Oh no, far from it. She ran in the popular crowd and dated assholes like the water-polo-chest-shaving-loser that went by the name of Luke, while he hung out with the, lets say, the rough crowd. They weren't even that rough to be perfectly honest, but my god, they'd never let anyone else know that. Most of the shit they cast was for useless amusement to distract themselves from the trash that they got dumped with at home. Being rich certainly did not necessarily mean happy or any of that Taylor-Townsend-high-on-the-shit-that-is-life crap that, that ecstatic blonde freak exerted to bring attention to herself. What a joke.

But here they were, opposite ends so the social spectrum, lying naked in the same bed together.

The said boy, also known by the name of Ryan Atwood, was thinking - and thinking hard too. How the hell had he ended up in the same bed as Marissa Cooper? Newport's princess and other titles he couldn't be bothered remembering was in his bed.

She'd probably wake up and freak out. I mean, honestly, she was in a sort of stranger's bed, naked, and hung over. Oh and the smell of Ryan's mother, Dawn, creating something disgusting for breakfast wouldn't exactly make the situation easier.

It had been a good night, a great night, even. Ryan wasn't one to turn down sex, that would be like a Christian turning down a free Bible – it was just logic for him. Okay, yes, the fact he was a severely horny seventeen-year-old boy sort of nullified the element of surprise; it's not as though he was 50 or something, but sex was more of a hobby, than something special you did with your partner. Seeing as how Ryan couldn't stay with a chick for more than one night. Anything more than that scared him. His commitment issues were in ways because of his parents; mother cheats on father with any new hunk that falls to her prey. Father is basically like a high scale, rich off his ass tycoon that spent his nights, and, well, money on hookers and heroin; and yet, to the outside world, they were seen as a model family of some sorts. What the hell, right?

While Ryan's household was already shattered into little pieces, Marissa's was only just beginning to smash. Her dad, Jimmy Cooper – also known as the go-to-guy for money-related crap, had recently been arrested for embezzlement. His wife, Julie Cooper, was frankly a downright bitch who needed to be put in her place - her place being the streets. Well, of course not literally. The feisty redheaded vixen had jumped the bones of another tycoon in the area, Caleb Nichol. Although it is highly possible Julie had sexual relations of some sort with Ryan's dad, Frank. Anyways, after one heated dance of a certain type, given by Julie, Caleb died of a heart attack.

Yes. Julie Cooper caused the demise of the towns' owner from a lap dance. Tragic, huh? Not really.

Jimmy got out of the slammer not to long later to find a grieving Julie (well, not exactly. But a few shed tears can be worth mega bucks with local magazines…and of course all the sympathy gifts from the Newpsies) and a pissed off and clearly hormonal Marissa. The 40-something father did also take not that the tequila supply had drastically gone down…

So with a Julie Cooper (the name speaks for itself) and a moody teenager on his hands, what was the guy to do? He had no money, his house was going to be taken away from him and maybe even his kids. He was pretty much screwed, to be bluntly honest.

But! One fine day in Southern California's, Orange County in a small-gated community, a man going by the name of Frank Atwood came into contact with Jimmy Cooper. A loan was given, along with trust – something that a lot of Newport's residents had lost in the head of the Cooper clan.

Without this knowledge being shared with the rest of the family, things appeared to be turning back to normal, or, at least as normal as they could get around there.

Then things started crumbling, like, _really_ crumbling. But seeing as how Julie was getting several A-pluses for her tremendous effort in pretending to care about the family, and Marissa was dating Luke and seeming to have greater contentment with life; Jimmy didn't want to ruin it for them. Not again.

So the Coopers lived a lie. A really thought out, stable, believable lie.

Although behind the Orange Curtain, the show was a shamble.

How Ryan Atwood knew all this about a family he had only come into contact with at events was easy – the Newpsies are key for getting scoop, and Ryan needed it to keep something entertaining in his life. Not to mention, some great mocking material.

The Orange Curtain was wearing old, and sooner or later people would begin to ask questions about the Coopers. I mean, Marissa Cooper lying naked in Ryan Atwood's bed? That counts for something, and that something is not quite right.

Ryan was knocked far from his thoughts, as he felt slight shuffling next to him.

She was up.

Crap.

"Hey," the blonde male greeted gruffly. Mornings were not his finest hour, and paired with a hang over? Killer…

Marissa's facial expression showed bafflement. And why wouldn't she be baffled? Queen bee had just fallen from her throne and landed on Ryan Atwood's mattress. "Uh, hi," she managed to finally utter. Confusion and complete embarrassment painted the girl's face as she asked Ryan this, "Did we…you know?"

"I'm guessing so. Judging by the nakedness of the pair of us; yes you, Marissa Cooper, did in fact have sex with Ryan Atwood…of all people."

"Look, it's not like that – not at all. But just out of my killing curiosity, did you wear a…?" Ryan nodded with a slight laugh as Marissa sighed with relief. "So that's good," she said. "Good…" Marissa repeated.

"Good," Ryan echoed in amusement.

"Shut up." Marissa pushed Ryan playfully.

"You are actually a lot more down to earth than you appear," Ryan pointed out to Marissa.

"Um, thanks…I think?"

"It's a complement," he reassured. She nodded and Ryan continued, "I always thought you were a plastic bitch. But from what I could tell last night: there was nothing plastic about you." Ryan smirked at his own comment as Marissa self-consciously pulled the sheet over her chest area.

"Leave my boobs alone."

Ryan laughed. "I don't recall you saying that to me last night."

"Oh! That is it, Atwood!" Marissa grabbed the nearest pillow and started whacking Ryan with it.

"Hey! Chill out Cooper." Ryan fought back with one of the other pillows that were at home on his huge bed.

"What's going on up here? I thought I could hear…oh my god."

Marissa fell out of his bed in shock as Ryan's mother, Dawn Atwood stood at the door with an incredibly disapproving look on her aging face. Botox anyone…?

"Hey mom," Ryan greeted indifferently, like as if he didn't have a completely naked girl on his floor and his mother wasn't standing there.

"Don't hey me, Ryan. Who is this?"

"Uh, Marissa…Cooper. My name is Marissa Cooper, hi," the blonde girl introduced awkwardly.

"Wait a minute, are you Julie Cooper's daughter?" Dawn questioned.

"Yeah." Marissa got to her feet – of course taking a sheet with her. Which unfortunately left Ryan sans coverage. "What the fuck Cooper. Give it back." Ryan tugged on the sheet, an embarrassed expression playing on his features; his _mom_ had just seen his, er, _thing_.

"Oh sweet Jesus," Dawn uttered, massaging her temple. "Look," Dawn began, "I'm going to go downstairs, and let you two, uh, get dressed. But come down as soon as you are done. Marissa, by that time, hopefully your mom will be here to pick you up," she finished with one last horrified glance in Ryan's direction, then left.

"That did not just happen," Marissa remarked.

"Oh yes it did Cooper. My mother did in fact walk in and see my dick. She is about to call your mom and I will now endure a totally unnecessary sex talk by a woman who fucks a gardener and a tennis instructor…at the same time."

Marissa was shocked by his truthfulness. "Sucks to be you." Ryan nodded in absolute agreement, and then focused his sight on the window. Marissa noticed his intense staring and looked at it herself. Not knowing what the fuss was about she asked, "What's so great about the window? Or are you high or something and it's talking to you?" Marissa laughed at her own comment.

"Funny," Ryan responded, his tone sarcastic.

"I know."

"Someone rates high of themself." Ryan smirked.

"No matter what I say, you always have to twist it around don't you, huh?" She held a confused facial, as Ryan got out of bed and stood at the window, as if looking down to the ground…that was _way_ below. "Seriously Ryan, what the hell is so fascinating?"

"Lets get out of here," he stated simply.

"Uh, what?" Marissa asked, her bafflement obvious.

"Do you have an ear problem or something?" Marissa pushed him for his comment.

"No! But where would we go, and how would we get passed your mom?" she inquired.

"Well, I was thinking we could exit through here." Ryan gestured towards the window, which he was now opening. "And go to a club or something," he finished.

"But it is like 10 a.m., what club would be fun at this loser time?"

"Yeah, it is 10 a.m. now. It won't be later."

"What are you getting at?" Marissa asked with a frustrated expression – one she probably didn't mean to come across as cute.

"I'm getting at a plan, that includes: me, you, L.A., my car - which is incredibly awesome, alcohol and most definitely a repeat of last night," Ryan explained.

"Um, no thanks. What about school, tomorrow? Hello! And last night was a one-off thing, so I'd forget whatever little skanky fantasy you have playing in your mind," Marissa pointed out.

"Fuck school. And by the way, you may want to get some clothes on, although, as much as you will protest, they will be coming back off again." Before Marissa got a chance to argue, Ryan had escaped into the bathroom – obviously to get changed.

Supposing she should probably do the same, Marissa collected her clothing off of Ryan's floor and began to pile them onto her frame.

"Ready?" Ryan asked, coming out from the bathroom, sand his shirt.

"Yeah. But it's clear that you're not." Marissa hoped that her salivating wasn't too obvious.

"I can't find my cell phone."

"Okay, so you can't find your cell phone. That's the reason you aren't ready to go? It's not the fact that you are shirtless?"

"True," Ryan said, picking up the nearest shirt and throwing it on.

Marissa jumped at the sound of an incredibly shrilling ring of a cell phone. "I think I know where your phone is," she stated indifferently.

Ryan rolled his eyes and answered it, "What? No. Okay? I don't give a fuck. Bye."

"Well, that was a pleasant conversation. With whom, might I ask?" Marissa inquired.

"My little bro, Trey, wants me to get him some cigarettes."

"How old is he?"

"12."

Marissa raised her eyebrows a fair bit at this. "Are you serious?"

"Yep. Now are we going to go?" Ryan asked.

"Okay…I guess so…" Marissa followed Ryan to the window and watched him climb out of it. "Something tells me this isn't the first time you've done this."

"Whatever is telling you that is right. Come on, get your ass down here."

"Oh God…" Marissa muttered as she attempted to escape the room. Doing so, with no such luck, Marissa fell out and grasped onto Ryan…who then tripped over and both blonde teenagers landed in the pool - funnily enough.

"What the hell is going on out there? Get back in here now!" Dawn yelled.

"Hurry up," Marissa told Ryan as the two hurriedly left the pool and got into Ryan's car.

"So, where to?" he asked.

"Hmm…" Marissa took a moment to think.

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**TBC**

**Where do you want them to go? Huh? The ball is in your court because you always have great ideas, and I thought I'd let you guys take the reins on this one! Thank you so much for reading and I hope that you enjoyed it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: The O.C. belongs to Josh Schwartz. Dang. But! I own the plot. Dun dun dun…**

**Thanks for the reviews and everyone who read the first chapter. Hope you enjoy this new post.**

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"Oh my god," Marissa muttered.

"You've got that right," Ryan agreed.

"I can't believe you just ran over a homeless man." Ryan started laughing, which seemed to be contagious, as Marissa echoed him amusement. "We're so mean," she told him.

"I know. But what's he going to do? It wasn't like life wasn't going to bring him much."

"Nice, Ryan. Real nice."

Ryan rolled his gorgeous blue eyes and asked, "Okay, so are we going to get our asses to Las Vegas or not?"

"Why Las Vegas?" Marissa questioned with raised eyebrows. Ryan shrugged in a lamely response, so Marissa filled in the blanks, "Hookers, huh?" When Ryan looked at her innocently she snickered. "You are such a boy."

"And aren't you glad? Otherwise last night would have been awkward."

"Tell me about it."

"So where do you want to go then?" Ryan inquired of the blonde girl.

"Uh…um…" Ryan sighed heavily at Marissa's indecisiveness. Marissa's head shot up quickly and Ryan thought for a moment that she had made up her mind.

No such luck.

"No…er…" she continued, totally unaware at how incredibly annoying she was being.

"Look woman, we are in the parking lot of an Indian restaurant where some extremely sensational smells are teasing me, I have a homeless man under my car and you don't know whether you want Vegas or L.A., choose woman. Please. Before you and your friend homeless Mo end up in the same boat."

Marissa was taken a back by Ryan's rant of some sorts. "Okay then…Las Vegas."

"Alright, thank you. But you'll be putting in some money for gas," Ryan said.

"I don't have my credit cards on me," Marissa said.

"Ugh, why Cooper? You're a Barbie doll living in Newport Beach with a trust fund as big as nobody's business. Why the hell wouldn't you have a credit card on you? That defies logic, it really does."

"Thanks for that amazingly informing speech, Ryan. But as you probably would have noticed by now: I'm not like the other girls."

Was it just Ryan's severely dirty imagination, or did the way Marissa pronounced the last sentence a tad on the seductive side? And he swore the coy smile she was bearing meant something too, but whatever the hell her mixed signals were meaning, they needed cash, and cash was at the Coopers.

"So are we going to my house?" Marissa knocked Ryan far from his thoughts that included Marissa and Ryan doing things that only the Karma Sutra should know about – things got dirty fast when it came to Ryan and his highly intelligent mind. I'm guessing you detected the heavy sarcasm when the words 'highly intelligent' came into play.

"What? Oh, yeah. Where is it?" Ryan eventually replied.

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"Nice place you've got here Cooper," Ryan commented as the two blonde teens entered Marissa's families' McMansion.

"Thanks."

Marissa led the way up the stairs and into her bedroom. Ryan rolled his eyes as a huge poster of some lame shirtless actor came into view.

Marissa noticed this and said, "Oh please! You had Playboy centrefolds on your wall, give me a break boy."

"Point taken."

"Thank you," Marissa smiled.

"Marissa?! Where have you been?" came Kaitlin's voice. The youngest Cooper girl stood at her sisters' doorway and took note of Ryan. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Wow, you're pretty bitchy for an 11-year-old. I'm actually impressed."

Marissa laughed slightly at Ryan's remark, then confronted Kaitlin, "His name is Ryan, and we're going away for a bit, okay? But don't tell mom or dad, alright Kaity?"

"Where are you two going?" the brunette asked curiously.

"That's for us to know and for you to find out…even though you won't actually find out," Ryan said.

"Vegas," Marissa answered her sister, ignoring Ryan.

"Oooh! Mommy! Guess what?" Kaitlin yelled out as she began running out of Marissa's bedroom.

Ryan chased after her and shoved her in Marissa's wardrobe.

"Hey! Let me out of here, you're so mean! I hate you! You're going to go to hell Bran or whatever your stupid name is!" Kaitlin told the blonde boy who was merely smirking.

"Go fuck yourself."

Silence filled the atmosphere for a moment, but was soon replaced with the sound of Kaitlin crying.

"Oh no don't cry," Ryan said, getting pissed off. He turned his attention to Marissa, who was flabbergasted by the fact he'd just locked her sister in her wardrobe, and said, "See, Cooper, this is why I hate kids."

"Understandable," she replied, nodding.

"Let me out!" Kaitlin yelled.

"Hm, I'll think about that…no! Come on Cooper, where are the credit cards at?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, right here." Marissa showed Ryan them with a large grin on her features.

"Lets do this."

"Lets do this," Marissa echoed in excitement.

"Cooper, don't lame this situation, just get outside, I'll deal with Julie's minion."

Marissa laughed in an unsure manner, and then bopped down the stairs and out to Ryan's car.

"Kaitlin…?"

"Yeah?!"

"I'm going to let you out on the count of 3, okay? You got that?"

"Definitely!" Kaitlin exclaimed.

"Alright; one…two…" As Ryan spoke, Kaitlin geared herself up to rampage out of the door. Ryan finished with, "…three…!" He quickly opened the door of the wardrobe and shut it again just before Kaitlin could get out.

"Hey! That's unfair," she argued. "Stop laughing Bran!" she requested when Ryan seemed to be finding great amusement in the scenario.

"Oh god, my nose is bleeding," Kaitlin randomly said.

"Shit," Ryan muttered, before as quietly as he could, leaving the room and meeting Marissa outside by his car.

"What did you do?" she inquired.

"What? Oh, you mean with Kaitlin?" Marissa nodded, so Ryan went on, "Gave her a nose bleed."

"You punched my little sister!?" Marissa yelled.

"No…just slammed the door on her face."

"Oh, because that makes it so much better," Marissa told him with sarcasm.

"Whatever Cooper, she had it coming…" Ryan rolled his eyes.

"I guess you are right in a way. Well, anyway, are we gonna get going?"

"Yep, we sure are. Vegas?" Ryan asked.

"How about a full on road trip, like, stopping at different places…"

"You are so lame Cooper."

"I know," Marissa shrugged. "So…are you going to drive, or…?"

"Oh, yeah, right." Ryan put the key in the ignition and began driving for seemed like ages.

"Where are we?" Marissa inquired.

Ryan looked up at a road sign that read something about Big Momma's Mexican Meals. "I have no clue, but, if I were to assume, I'd say we were somewhere in Mexico."

Marissa rolled her eyes and asked, "Ya think?"

"Well, lets check out this place." Ryan gestured for the Mexican diner and parked outside of it, along with several other cars…although, his car stood out…a lot, thanks to its beaming shine and incredible amount of expense.

About half an hour passed and Ryan and Marissa had finished eating, they came out of the diner to see Ryan's car…or lack there of.

"What the fuck?! Where did it go?" he asked angrily.

"Well, looks like we're hitchhiking," Marissa pointed out dumbly.

"Yeah, okay, but to where Cooper?" Ryan questioned.

"Anywhere, I don't know. Look, I know strippers in Las Vegas is a lot more appeal ing to you…hell, it's even looking more attractive than this situation to me right now, but it's all part of the fun," she explained.

"What is? Getting lost?" Ryan smirked. "And losing my car?" he continued.

"Exactly. Now come on, get that thumb up."

**TBC**

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**Okay, lame, WTF? kind of post, not exactly what you guys thought, right? But, the fun is just about to begin and I hope you guys stick with me on this one! I'm a reviews whore…**


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